[SOLVED] Is it possible to OC an i7 4790k with a cheap mobo?

[AkiJOO]

Motherboard:
Asrock H81M-DGS R2.0

In case it's possible how can I do it? Is there a ceiling for oc speed? Is there any 3rd party software I can use?

 

[Newtonius]

I wouldn't recommend it, that board only has a 4 pin CPU connector and not much details on its dedicated webpage. I would avoid overclocking, but it does have voltage monitor sensors so you can install a program like HWinfo and monitor your power draw and test it out anyway if you really want to, the worst that can happen if you draw more power than your board can handle is that it'll just power off due to instability. You can then clear CMOS/BIOS and try again.

PLEASE PLEASE make sure you have a good Power supply before trying (a brand named model & '80 bronze plus' certified or higher).

 

[AkiJOO]

I wouldn't recommend it, that board only has a 4 pin CPU connector and not much details on its dedicated webpage. I would avoid overclocking, but it does have voltage monitor sensors so you can install a program like HWinfo and monitor your power draw and test it out anyway if you really want to, the worst that can happen if you draw more power than your board can handle is that it'll just power off due to instability. You can then clear CMOS/BIOS and try again.

PLEASE PLEASE make sure you have a good Power supply before trying (a brand named model & '80 bronze plus' certified or higher).

Yeah, I don't think I would have psu problems with my cx500.

My concern is that, I can't just clear CMOS and try again that easily bc the default version of the BIOS doesn't support my CPU. (Its supported from the v1.2 - ASRock > H81M-DGS R2.0 ) So I would have to just switch back and forth between my old i5 and the i7 to install the newer BIOS version over and over again.

Is it worth buying a commercial OC board for that? They can be pretty pricey.

 

[Newtonius]

Yeah, I don't think I would have psu problems with my cx500.

My concern is that, I can't just clear CMOS and try again that easily bc the default version of the BIOS doesn't support my CPU. (Its supported from the v1.2 - ASRock > H81M-DGS R2.0 ) So I would have to just switch back and forth between my old i5 and the i7 to install the newer BIOS version over and over again.

Is it worth buying a commercial OC board for that? They can be pretty pricey.

If you really want to overclock, then yes it's recommended you get a better board for that compared to the one you have now. But anyway, resetting the BIOS/CMOS doesn't reset the BIOS version, it just resets all the settings you applied. So if your overclock is unstable it just removes that overclock setting. Though personally if you know first hand that resetting BIOS removes that compatibility then I guess that's more of a reason not to overclock.

 

[AkiJOO]

If you really want to overclock, then yes it's recommended you get a better board for that compared to the one you have now. But anyway, resetting the BIOS/CMOS doesn't reset the BIOS version, it just resets all the settings you applied. So if your overclock is unstable it just removes that overclock setting. Though personally if you know first hand that resetting BIOS removes that compatibility then I guess that's more of a reason not to overclock.

You're probably right. 4.4Ghz for my 3gb 1060 is more than enough anyway. Thanks.

 

[geofelt]

Motherboard:
Asrock H81M-DGS R2.0

In case it's possible how can I do it? Is there a ceiling for oc speed? Is there any 3rd party software I can use?

No, H81 motherboards are not capable of overclocking.
You need a Z prefix motherboard.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

CX500s are an older model well known for failure and potentially damaging systems when they do fail. I personally have had one fail, and I know a moderator here had one old CX kill one of their motherboards. I don't think it is a good idea to do any overclocking on that PSU.

You don't 100% need Z series to oc with Haswell. There were some workarounds for H series boards, especially with asrock boards. However, given the VRM on this board and the PSU, even if you might be able to OC it, its not a good idea.

 

[carocuore]

The answer is yes, it is possible to overclock, BUT you shouldn't do it with that board, and most importantly

Is there any 3rd party software I can use?

Never overclock via Windows, everything is to be done via the BIOS Setup if you want it to work somewhat decently.

If you've downloaded a BIOS with Microcode 19 (over v1.50) then you won't be able to overclock by a single MHz because that "feature" removes the CPU frequency and voltage settings from the BIOS, you know because Intel didn't liked this and wanted tons of $$$$$$ by selling mobos with the Z chipset that's no different to the H except in those settings, corp greed at its finest.

 

[SamirD]

You might be able to use throttlestop to overclock it via software, but heed all the caveats from previous posters. This would be better on a better board, and a board would be cheaper than that cpu as it still has some value.